Bitcoin Explained

"We all have a crypto-friend who sounds like this guy. Gold back in 698BC was no different..."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Trump, Twitter, Job Cuts, Recession Risks

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk discusses his planned acquisition of Twitter Inc., his view that a US recession is likely, and the outlook for job cuts at Tesla. In an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum, he also comments on supply constraints and whether he would support Donald Trump in the next US presidential election.

The future monetary system - BIS Media Briefing

A burst of creative innovation is under way in money and payments, opening up vistas of a future digital monetary system that adapts continuously to serve the public interest.

Structural flaws make the crypto universe unsuitable as the basis for a monetary system: it lacks a stable nominal anchor, while limits to its scalability result in fragmentation. Contrary to the decentralisation narrative, crypto often relies on unregulated intermediaries that pose financial risks.

A system grounded in central bank money offers a sounder basis for innovation, ensuring that services are stable and interoperable, domestically and across borders. Such a system can sustain a virtuous circle of trust and adaptability through network effects.

New capabilities such as programability, composability and tokenisation are not the preserve of crypto, but can instead be built on top of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), fast payment systems and associated data architectures.

Anonymous digital payments?

Is there a place for anonymous CBDC payments?

The Bank of Israel has been experimenting with technology that would allow some CBDC payments to be made anonymously.

Setting out the results from its first digital shekel technological experiments, the bank says that one of its main focuses has been on finding a balance between offering the privacy afforded by cash and ensuring a CBDC cannot be used for things such as tax avoidance and money laundering.

The experiment examined a model developed by VMware that would see citizens have a wallet that can hold “ordinary” digital shekels, the transfer of which is recorded in the ledger, and “private” digital shekels, the transfer details of which are not recorded openly, and where both sides to the transaction enjoy complete privacy as with cash payments.

Read more HERE.

How does raising interest rates control inflation? - The Economist

When central banks raise interest rates, the impact is felt far and wide. Mortgages become more expensive, house prices might fall and unemployment can rise. So why do central banks do it? This film tells you why.

U.S. vs. China: A Metaverse Divided Over Design and Rules

The metaverse race is heating up in China. Just like Meta and Microsoft in the U.S., Chinese firms such as Baidu and Tencent are investing in the nascent industry, but strict tech regulations mean China’s virtual worlds are set to offer very different user experiences.

Hot Money: porn meets the internet - FT

Stoya is a porn star who saw first-hand how a firehose of free porn online transformed the adult industry. 

She sends FT hosts Alex Barker and Patricia Nilsson a quest: Find out who is in charge, and get to the bottom of how the business of porn really works. 

"Hot Money" will take you inside who controls the industry, tell you about the rivalries and expose the power battles. You’ll hear from adult directors and performers, tech pioneers and Wall Street billionaires — and you’ll be left surprised by who’s really in control. 

You can listen to the other episodes at https://on.ft.com/3tglc9h